


Paint Me

by NekoAbi



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Based off of the song of the same name from Firebringer, M/M, Struggling artist Roman, The song is linked at the top of the fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-21
Updated: 2019-10-21
Packaged: 2020-12-27 18:24:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,290
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21123257
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NekoAbi/pseuds/NekoAbi
Summary: Roman is struggling with his art and his artist block. Perhaps all he needs is a new muse, and perhaps the stranger at his door will be just that...





	Paint Me

**Author's Note:**

> The song used is [Paint Me](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ips7iVK_Tx8) from Starkid's musical, Firebringer.

For an entire eternity , Roman had been experiencing the worst bought of artist’s block he’d ever encountered in his life. He would walk into his ‘studio’ – the small spare room in his apartment that had just enough space for all the things he needed to store in there – and recoil at the blank canvas that sat there. It felt as though it was mocking the artist, taunting him every time. It got to the point where, for the first time, Roman shut the door to the room in order to avoid seeing it every day.

It had gone on for what felt like months, not a single idea was coming to his mind. Even when he attempted to do something utterly spontaneous, Roman ended up despising the piece and threw it out of his window into the conveniently placed dumpster below.

He’d been sitting with his head in his hands on his couch after that, wallowing in his own self pity and silence, when a knock at the door roused him. With a grunt of effort, Roman pushed himself off the couch and attempted to make himself look a little presentable before opening the door.

Time stopped as soon as Roman looked through the doorframe.

Standing in front of his apartment door was the most beautiful human he’d ever seen. The soft roundness of his face giving off an air of innocence that was only bolstered by the smattering of freckles dotting his cheeks. His eyes were a rich brown, contrasting the lighter colour of his hair gorgeously. It was almost as though Roman were falling into those eyes as he continued to stare.

The stranger wasn’t doing much better as he was also standing and staring, his <strike>soft-looking</strike> lips parted slightly in what seemed like awe. Roman could just about make out that the man was holding something in his hands, but he didn’t want to take a second away from those eyes in order to find out what it was.

And then the man outside his apartment spoke and Roman was entirely smitten, if he wasn’t already before. His voice was soft and light, almost giving it a fairy-like quality and it was entrancing Roman with every word, though he realised once the man stopped talking that he’d not taken in a single word.

Roman coughed slightly, “Oh, sorry… I was, lost in thought. What did you say?”

The stranger flushed slightly, his cheeks gathering a dusting of pink that complimented him so well, “I was just, uh, well… I saw this fall out of the window, because I was walking past and it was pretty hard to miss, what with all the colours and such. Um, and I just, I had to take a look, y’know? And when I did, I had to come and find whoever painted it because it’s just so… so pretty!”

The object in the man’s hands was then turned to Roman, who finally glanced away from the man’s face. Immediately, he grimaced, “It’s kind of you to offer such nice words but… it is absolutely hideous. I would know, I made it.”

“We are our worst critics, y’know. I think it’s wonderful!” The painting was turned back around, and the stranger’s eyes traced it, a soft smile tugging at his lips as he did so. “It’s just so colourful and, uh, well, pretty!” The man laughed, a sound that almost had Roman grasping onto the door as his body wanted to dramatically throw himself to his knees because of it. “I’m sorry, I don’t know much about art, but I know when I like something!”

Roman smiled charmingly, “In that case, it’s yours to keep. Considering I was only going to throw it out anyway.”

The stranger’s eyes seemed to sparkle as he gasped and hugged the canvas close to his chest – Roman would be lying if he were to say that he wasn’t jealous of an inanimate object in that moment, “Are you sure?! I-I can’t just _take it! _Surely there is something I can give you in return!”

There it was. Roman’s chance. He turned on his charm and made eye contact yet again, “Well, if you are so insistent, there might be something that would suffice.” Roman leant on the doorframe, leaning just a little closer, “Finding out your name would be a fair trade, don’t you think?”

Even from where he was, Roman could hear the gulp that the stranger took before he smiled shyly, “I’m Patton. Patton Grace.”

“Lovely to meet you, Patton.”

“Wait! That can’t be a fair trade for this!”

Roman was a little taken aback by the sudden change and Patton suddenly seemed to gain a playful confidence, “Uh, what? I thought…”

“It’s not a fair trade because I can’t take two things from you and just give you one back! That’s an unfair trade!”

“Two things?”

Patton grinned and looked up at Roman through his eyelashes, looking utterly adorable, “I want to know the name of the one who made this fantastic piece of art.”

Roman swore he felt his heart leap at the compliment. It was getting harder and harder to maintain his cool, but he had one last trick up his sleeve in order to get the upper hand – which he assumed would go down well, since Patton was now seemingly almost sort of flirting with him. In slow but smooth movement, he pried one of Patton’s hands off of the canvas that was still pressed to his body and leant down to press a feather-light kiss to his knuckles. Roman looked up at the man before him, smiling softly as he noticed Patton’s cheeks turning a darker pink at the move, “Roman Price” was all he said.

As Roman stood back up, Patton giggled and shuffled about on his feet slightly, grinning wide, “It’s great to meet you, Roman. Now, what can I give you for this painting? I can pay if you want, that’s not a problem!”

The artist waved a hand in dismissal, “You can keep your money, Patton. I have something better than you can offer me.”

Patton stood up straight, clearly attempting to look attentive and not at all flustered.

“You can offer me one of your evenings.”

“What?!” Patton’s face almost glowed red in an instant, but he was still smiling despite his clear surprise. “A-are you… asking me… on a date? Like a real date?!”

Roman couldn’t help but let out a loud laugh at the other man’s reaction.

“Hey!” Patton pouted

“Oh, I’m sorry. It was just too precious.” Roman pretended to wipe a tear.

“Precious…?” Patton suddenly asked, his voice seeming hopeful.

Roman’s mouth snapped shut. It was now his turn to blush and stutter, “Uh, well, um… yes, of course. Precious, um.” He avoided eye contact for the first time, embarrassed that he’d just blurted out such a strong compliment on accident. It didn’t last long, however, as a reciprocated light kiss to his cheek had his head snapping to look back at Patton, who was now far closer to him.

“I would love to. How about… tomorrow?”

There was a beat before both of them broke out into grins and giggles. They agreed to a time, shared phone numbers and parted ways, both utterly enamoured with their chance encounter.

The first date went well, as did the second and the third and the fourth. Every date did. Before too long, the two began to officially date. Throughout all of their courtship, Roman had forgotten about his artist’s block as he had better things to focus on.

But then Patton had come over and wanted to explore a little.

He pushed open the door to the small ‘art studio’ curiously. Immediately, he turned to Roman and grinned, “Oh! Is this where you do all the painting?! Can I go in and look? Oh please, Ro!”

The artist chuckled, “Of course you can, Pat. Just be careful.”

“Psssh!” Patton waved a hand as he turned back into the small room, “Do you think I’m never not careful? Because I am the carefulest!”

“That’s… not a word, dear.” Roman light-heartedly chastised as he leant against the doorframe, watching his boyfriend roam the space. Patton turned and stuck his tongue out, which only had Roman breathing out a few small laughs.

Patton was standing just in front of the second stool that sat in the room which Roman typically used for putting the subjects he was painting on and the sight of him standing there sparked something in Roman. It was so sudden.

“Patton.”

“Hm?”

“I think you might be the muse I’ve been looking for all this time.”

“What?”

“Can you sit on the stool for me? I want to paint you, Patton. I want to capture every detail in the best way I can. Surely, if I can capture your beauty on canvas, I shall understand how to create my own once again. Patton, will you let me paint you?”

Patton’s mouth had been hanging open slightly and his cheeks were turning pink. He then smiled shyly. But that then grew into a grin and giggles started pouring from him. “Sure!”

“Thank you. So much. Just give me a few moments.”

Roman was moving as fast as he could, grabbing paints from the bookshelf that sat at the far side of the room, just behind the easel. He didn’t want to keep Patton waiting too long and he didn’t want to lose this sudden spark of inspiration that he felt. It was as if he was finally going to smash that wall that had been standing between him and the canvas for months now. Once Roman had gathered everything, he sat himself on the other stool and looked back to Patton, who was watching him.

“Now, please sit as still as you can. I’m sorry if this takes a while but capturing perfection will always take a long time.” Roman said softly, causing Patton’s cheeks to get even pinker.

The room was quiet for as long as they were in there. Sure, the sounds of the neighbouring apartments bled through the walls and the noise of the bustling street nearby slipped through the window, but it didn’t impact their space. It was almost as if, in that moment, the small spare room that was used as an artist studio was a world away from everything else surrounding it. However, at some point, Roman started to hum a song that suddenly popped into his head. Then, upon sharing a smile with Patton, he began to sing the words quietly.

_“I'll start with how your hair goes_   
_ The firelight makes it glow_   
_ Then I'll move onto that cute nose.”_

Patton fought not to perk up from his seat as he realised what the song was. Roman had introduced him to so many things that he never knew about and this song – and the show it was from – was one of them. Not to mention, it was one of Patton’s favourites. He couldn’t help but join in at the second person’s part.

_“Paint how you see me.”_

Roman grinned, pausing his painting for a moment. Ever the performer, he couldn’t help but continue the song.

_“Next I'll draw your smile_   
_ And stare at it a while_   
_ It just goes on for miles.”_

The sound of the brush smoothing over the canvas was their rhythm, as Roman was subconsciously moving along with the tune of the song. It helped Patton continue the song, even though he had to fight to not bob along to the beat that was playing in his head.

_“Paint how you see me._

_I want to know how you see me_   
_ And if it's the same as I see you_   
_ With the colours of love_   
_ On your paintbrush._

_Paint how you see me.”_

_“Now I'll paint your body_   
_ You always look so lovely_   
_ I can't explain these feelings.”_

_“Paint how you see me.”_

Roman gently placed down his brush. He stared at the canvas for a moment, then flicked between it and Patton before letting out a relaxed breath. He turned his attention solely to Patton, standing from his stool.

_“I think that I got everything_   
_ The essence of your beauty_   
_ I hope you like your painting_   
_ Of what I see in you.”_

Patton shot up and grabbed a hold of Roman’s outstretched hand, which he’d offered as he’d sung. He was buzzing with excitement to see the finished product. Turning under Roman’s arm, causing it to be slung across the front of his chest, Patton stared at the fully painted canvas before him.

His breathing almost stopped for a second as he was quite literally finding the art Roman had produced to be utterly breath-taking. Patton had never seen himself in such a way. Sure, he’d found plenty of things to love about himself and his self-confidence was high enough that he loved his body for everything… but this was so much different from looking at himself in the mirror.

Patton had to say that he looked… stunning. It definitely was him; it had his freckles, his glasses, his eyes, his hair – but it just… was different, in a way that was practically indescribable. Well, Patton had one way to describe it, which he did as he slowly turned back under Roman’s arm to face him.

_“I like how you see me.”_

The pair smiled at each other lovingly, simply content to be in their small world alone. Patton took a step towards Roman and wrapped his arms around his sturdy frame, relaxing as Roman’s arms circled him. His eyes were still attached to the painting just to the side of him. They both agreed it was one of Roman’s best.


End file.
